Shattered Misery 1 of Immortality's Bite Series
by AniBlaire
Summary: Riley has got a whole destiny outside of Buffy and the group


TITLE: Shattered Misery  
AUTHOR: [Blaire Ryan   
][1]

RATING: PG-13   
CLASSIFICATION: Crossover with theme for Highlander: The Series, you know, live forever, fight other immortals to the death.  
SUMMARY: In a deep depression, Riley is careless in Beliz and dies.It takes death to make his life different.

SPOILERS: Umm, various mentions of everything up to Into the Woods and Reunion.   
DISTRIBUTION: Eternal Bitca, You Got the Stones? Anyone else just needs ta holler.  
DISCLAIMER: Joss de Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Kazui Sandollar, FOX and the WB all have their grubby hands on the characters and property such.Someone clever owns the Highlander stuff.  
FEEDBACK: Desperately wanting!   
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Answer to Challenge #23 at You Got the Stones?This was supposed to be longer, but I decided to make a bunch of little short stories.Now I need to find a name for a series.Sigh.

Always with the death aren't you, Riley Finn?Only this time, it's not the death of an HST, it's yours.He was lying there, in the middle of god-knew-where, bleeding away his life.The demon hadn't eaten him, which could be considered a plus, but he was still going to die here.He'd never see Buffy again, or those annoying friends which he'd actually grown kind of attached to.Well, it's the way of life, to die.

Those were probably his last thoughts, he couldn't be quite sure, because, well, he was dead.The not breathing, not heart-beating kind of living.And not a vampire, either.That is, until he woke up.

January 15th, 2001

The first thing Riley thought as his eyes hit the ceiling, was that he'd thought heaven, or hell, would have less leaky ceilings.He could see where water would be dripping all over the room if it had started to rain.That kind of bothered him, but it wasn't the only thing.He doubted heaven, or hell, would have straw beds.That led him to the conclusion that, for some reason, he was not dead.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by a feeling he'd had only twice before in his life.It was a kind of adrenaline-producing, mind on full alert, buzzing feeling deep down in his stomache.He'd never discovered what it had been back in Iowa, and then again when he was in LA for a mission briefing before going to Sunnydale.It was a strange kind of buzz, but could be passed off as nerves.It'd never lasted more than a few seconds before, anyway.But this time, it was getting stronger, and he began to hear footsteps.

It was at that moment he realized he was completely healed.The giant gash in his stomach was gone without a scar, and he didn't even feel weak from blood loss.Somewhere in his head, he knew this was completely wrong.But, because of the buzzing, and his history with being prepared to face the potentially deadly, Riley ignored all that.

When the footsteps reached the entryway of his room, he was up and in a defensive stance.He expected a demon, vicious and dripping venom, he definitely didn't expect to see a small dark haired woman in jungle fatigues.A very pretty small brunnete, actually.She obviously wasn't a vampire either, or he would have seen some combustion with all the sunlight streaming in the room.

"You're awake," she held out a hand, but Riley was a little too surprised to shake it."I'm Danielle.Don't worry, I don't bite.I can't say the same about whatever that animal was that attacked you.I've never seen so much damage inflicted by one of those bloody jungle beasts, you must have been special."

Riley was now more confused than he imagined he could be.This girl was sending radar signals blasting throughought his body, and yet she obviously didn't know about demons.His wounds didn't look like a jungle cat's work if you knew anything about injuries.

"Uh, yeah.It was… deadly," Riley managed to mumble."What are you?And why are you giving me a headache?"

The girl looked at him shocked."Dammit.I promised myself I wouldn't get involved in another newbie.I should have known it was your first death.No experienced immortal would be without a sword, even with those guns you were packing," Danielle wasn't really talking to him.She seemed to be telling herself something.Whatever it is, Riley began to think she was missing a few screws.

"Uh, yeah… thankyou ma'am, but I think I'll be going now.If I can get back my… paintball guns, I'll be leaving," Riley again wished he could think of a better excuse.Paintball guns, in the middle of the jungle.How pathetic.

As Riley turned to leave, Danielle stepped in front of him."Oh, wait.I can't let you go.I may not know you, and I ought to just let you go and be taken down by the first immortal that crosses your path, but for some reason I feel obligated."

Riley tried to manuever around her, but she stood her ground."Sorry, but I can't let you go until you listen to what I have to say," She tried to look intimidating, but Riley had stood his ground against plenty a more scary than a five foot four brunnete in jungle fatigues.

"Uh, Miss, I'm sorry that you think I'm whatever it is you think I am, but trust me, I'm nothing special.I'm just going to leave now, and I really don't think you can stop me," Riley said as he began to push through her bodily baricade.

"Sorry to do this," as Riley began to walk out of the room, his feet were swept out from under him, causing Riley to land face first in the soft mesh ground."but you wouldn't listen to me."

Trying to spin around, Riley felt a blunt object smacking into the back of his head.His world went dark soon after.

***

Danielle paced the room vigorously.Damn her, damn her, damn her.'Why am I doing this?What the hell am I trying to prove?' she asked herself repeatedly.She had only been immortal for thirty years.She had plenty of money, but none of the fortunes that many of her fellow immortals possessed.'It ought to be a rule.No fortune, no taking newbies under your wing.And, he obviously doesn't want your help.You saw the kind of heatwas packing, he'll be able to take care of himself!'

The pacing had been going on for an hour.The blow she'd given "soldier boy" had been pretty harsh, but he'd be waking up soon.She had to make a decision, and quickly.She could either just send him off, tell him to buy a sword and learn how to use it, or she could teach him.It was the code, sort of.Older immortals were supposed to take youngsters under their wing, teach them to survive The Game. The strong then could survive, and the weak would perish. This man looked like a survivor, too.But he couldn't survive if he didn't even know that he was playing a Game that's goal was life or death.It was a bitch of a system, but much worse if you weren't prepared.

"Dammit!" the expletive came from the back room of her hut, and she knew Soldier Boy was awake.He probably didn't like getting taken down and tied up by a little slip of a girl.But she'd taken three heads, and those men where a lot older, quicker, and by far more prepared than he had been.

Soldier Boy glared at her with acid when she came through the entrance."Okay, I didn't think you were a demon in the beginning, but now I'm getting doubtful.Why'd you hit me in the back of the head and tie me up?"

Danielle held up her hands in an effort to emphasize what she was about to say, "Hey!I told you I wasn't going to let you leave until you listened to what I had to say.I'm a woman of my word.Now, are you ready to sit back and listen?"

Soldier Boy snorted, struggling against the bonds that had tied him to the wall of the hut."Do I have a choice in the matter?"

Danielle shook her head, exasperated."You know, this is really hard for me.I'm only fifty-four years old.Definitely not old enough to be taking you under my wing.I mean, you may be cute, but you're not worth losing _my_ head over."

Soldier Boy looked disturbed, "Uh… Danielle, I think you said, there is no way you are fifty-four.If you're older than me at all, you can't be more than twenty-five.And I won't even start with the weirdness of _you_ taking _me_ under your wing.You don't even know me or anything I do, how could you take me under your wing?"

She shook her head, "What are we, in kindergarten?Don't restate things like that.I'm not an invalid.I am going to say something, and it's complicated, so don't interrupt me.It may sound fantastic, but it's not," she paced back and forth in the room for a few minutes, wringing her hands together nervously."We are both immortal.We're chosen ones, I guess.Whoever it was, they chose us to live forever.We walk the earth, and we fight eachother.And don't ask why we fight, because it isn't really clear.We call it The Game, though.By fighting with swords, we take eachother's heads.There is a legend, that there will be a Gathering, where all of the survivors of our line come together, and we battle to the last one.He who is the last will receive The Prize.And, no one knows what The Prize really is, but there is speculation that it's ultimate power.Yeah, I know, this all sounds like insanity.But… it's an obligation.I have to do this, or I'll be breaking the code.And there is more to tell, you just have to promise to cooperate," Danielle paused from her pacing, and looked at Soldier Boy seriously.

He looked thoughtful for a moment, then finally said, "Well, I've seen stranger.Why not?Tell me, Danielle, what you want me to know."

Sighing with relief, Danielle said, "Thank god.I didn't want to have the weight of your beheading on my shoulders, so to speak.Well, settle in, I've got a lot to tell."

Fin

   [1]: mailto:Redbat1@earthlink.net



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